Kudumbashree members at a class room in Palakkad district as part of 'Back to school" training.
Credit: Special Arrangement
Kerala on Sunday witnessed as many as 46 lakh women, even those in their seventies, going to schools as part of their efforts to scale new heights in life.
The Kudumbashree poverty eradication and women empowerment mission of Kerala is organising a 21 days training programme resembling schools that began from Sunday. It is considered as one of the largest training programme for women to be held in the country. The aim is to empower the women, who hailed from weaker sections, to venture into new areas of business.
Kudumbashree that recently celebrated its silver jubilee has literally changed the lives of lakhs of women. It now has over one lakhs small and micro enterprises and Kudumabshree workers are also playing a key role in the state's sanitation through their involvement in waste management as well as farming.
"Having completed 25 successful years, Kudumbashree is now planning to venture into new areas like big enterprises and service sectors. The basic requirement for it is to train the Kudumbashree members and hence the massive training exercise has been initiated," Kudumbashree executive director Jafar Malik told DH.
The training, titled 'Back to school', is being organised at schools with the support of the state education department. The sessions have been structured like typical class rooms. Classes will be from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm and starts with morning assembly. In order to ensure that the routine work are not affected the classes are being organised on 21 holidays between October 1 and December 10. Subjects include emerging opportunities in the digital era, record keeping, micro-financing and women empowerment.
The Kudumbashree executive director said that a well trained Kudumbashree team would be able to effectively accomplish the ongoing campaign to eradicate extreme poverty in the state as well as to offer more services useful for the society.